Preeti Deo a friend I
made on social media is a blogger for whom I have the most profound admiration.
She is the guardian of traditional Maharashtrian cuisine. She has tried every
recipe from the prolific book on Maharashtrian cuisine Ruchira by Kamalabai
Ogale. On a Facebook page dedicated to keeping the Maharashtrian food customs
alive, Preeti mentioned a technique for pickling dried raw dates, called
Kharek. Kharek are raw dates that are sun dried. They are mostly used in
pickles and are not too sweet and a bit astringent like fresh dates.

Preeti soaked the
kharek which are extremely hard in lemon juice to rehydrate and soften them and
dried them again. You end up with something that’s better than candy! The dates
become sweet and sour and the astringency reduces considerably. I had soaked
half a kilo of kharek and ended up with a baking tray full of sliced kharek. I
therefore went on to make a pickle with some more lemons.

Lime and Dried Dates pickles

Ingredients

500g Kharek

Lemon juice to cover
the kharek (about 1-2 cups)

1kg lemons cut in 8

4 tbsp sea salt

1 tbsp fenugreek
powder

4 tbsp split mustard
seeds

4 tbsp chilli powder

1 tbsp turmeric
powder

Method

Put the kharek in a
glass bowl and cover with lemon juice.

The next day, the
dates will be plump.

De-seed and chop
them.

Line a baking tray
with baking paper and spread out the dates in a single layer.

Dry at room
temperature in an airy place for around 2-3 days till dried.